Taking home the $400 prize money for best individual costume was New York native, and current Fort Stewart resident, Norman Morataya. (Travis Jaudon/For the Savannah Morning News)

Kids participate in a quarter-mile fun run prior to the start of the Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run on Saturday. (Robert Cooper/For the Savannah Morning News)

Kelly Broders “high-fives” the crowd as she nears the finish line of the 5K. (Robert Cooper/For the Savannah Morning News)

A scene from the Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run on Saturday. (Robert Cooper/For the Savannah Morning News)

The 26th annual Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run was held Saturday morning in downtown Savannah with plenty of action taking place on and off the course. Around 4,100 runners took part in three different races which featured a route that allowed participants to run across the Talmadge Memorial Bridge.

Following the kids run, which began at 7:30 a.m., adult runners chose to take part in the 5K, 10K and Double Pump portions of the event. To be eligible to win the Double Pump competition, the runners must complete the 5K and 10K consecutively.

Savannah’s Jessica Stone, 27, ran the 5K in 19 minutes and 59 seconds and the 10K in 41:52 for a winning net time of 1:01:51.

Tara Komlo (Wake Forest, North Carolina) and Julie Hannah (Melbourne, Florida) finished second and third in the Double Pump, finishing with net times of 1:06:58 and 1:07:19, respectively.

While Stone took home the Double Pump honors, another Savannah female took first place in the 5K race.

Ann McLaughlin, 36, won the 5K with a solid time of 21:00.55. For McLaughlin, who finished second in the 2016 Double Pump, the 5K victory was definitely a surprising result.

“I haven’t really been running a lot lately to be honest,” McLaughlin said with a big smile after crossing the finish line. “I’m actually more of a swimmer. I swam in college at the University of Alabama, so running isn’t exactly my specialty.”

Not a bad finish on land for someone who says she is more comfortable in the water.

During the race, McLaughlin said that she spent the majority of the time too far behind Stone, and too far ahead of second-and third-place 5K finishers Megan Feasel (21:32) and Moriah Harris (21:46), to use them as pace setters. No worries. She didn’t need pacing help.

“I don’t really need (other runners around) to use as motivation,” she admitted while still smiling ear-to-ear. “I just tried to get a good workout and I try to get in first as soon as I can, then try to stay there for as long as I can. I pushed the whole way and it went surprisingly well for me.”

In the 10K competition, Statesboro resident Carlee James was the top female finisher with a time of 43:41.09. James, 35, was yet another winner who surprised herself with her winning performance.

“I ran a marathon (in Washington, D.C.) a few weeks ago, so I’m still kind of recovering from that for sure,” James said. “I love all kinds of running events from mile runs to 5K races to full marathons. I run them all.”

She credited her former high school coach, and current South Effingham cross country coach, Craig Owens with being her “marathon mentor” since she began seriously running 20 years ago.

“(Owens) has helped me from the very beginning and he is still helping me through all of these events with motivation and pointers here and there. Craig is someone who deserves a lot of credit for any success I have running.”

The time for her this year wasn’t her best in a 10K event, but she says the bridge run is one of her favorites because “the fun atmosphere which surrounds the entire race weekend is unrivaled in (her) experiences.”

James said her best recorded time for a 10K is around 39 minutes. That time is unofficial, however, because she set the mark while running with her dog in Statesboro a few years back.

That fact makes one wonder how much faster James would’ve been on Saturday had she brought along her K-9 friend for the bridge run.

Olivia Esselman, 17, of Aiken, South Carolina finished second in the 10K (45:00), while Savannah’s Angela Shiver, 47, placed third (46:07).

Notes

Rob Wells, the newly appointed director of the Savannah Sports Council, said Saturday afternoon that the event couldn’t have gone better from start to finish. He credited title sponsor Enmarket with being committed to the “entirety of the event.”

“Things went smooth from the beginning for us thanks in large part to Enmarket,” Wells said. “They are tremendous at what they do and they are an excellent company to team up with.”

After last year’s cold weather threw a wrench into the race, the 2017 event was blessed with excellent weather throughout. Wells noted at the post-race event party in Johnson Square that the bridge run was special to Savannah for three distinct reasons.

“I think the tradition of this thing going back 26 years now is first and foremost in what sets this apart from other races in the area,” Wells said. “The uniqueness of this race is the second reason, as it’s the only time people can experience running over the bridge. And lastly, the mix of good, quality running competition with the fun costume-wearing runners really makes this special.”

The costume competition is a highlight of the event every year, and the 2017 version was no exception. Taking home the $400 prize money for best individual costume was New York native, and current Fort Stewart resident, Norman Morataya.

Morataya, 49, was dressed as a policeman who just so happened to look like a character on “Reno 911!” a popular television series on Comedy Central from 2003-09. Decked out in shorts that were probably a little too short, and a uniformed shirt that was definitely too tight, Morataya sported a whistle and several other key accessories to help him complete the look.

Morataya said he ran the race in the police uniform with the intention of saying more than perhaps most of the crowd realized.

“I did this to help honor the Army’s second brigade unit, first off,” Morataya said. “But I also wanted to make a small statement to the police officers of Savannah. I wanted to convey the message that our policemen and women need to be in excellent physical condition to perform their jobs correctly. That isn’t always the case (in Savannah), but it should be the expectation, in my humble opinion.”